1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrothermal heating cooker including a casing having an upper opening and accommodating a heating case for a heating object (an object to be heated), a lid body for covering and closing the upper opening of the casing, a lower electrothermal heater for heating a lower portion inside a heating chamber formed by the casing and the lid body, an upper electrothermal heater for heating an upper portion inside the heating chamber, and a check window comprised of a plate-like transmission body allowing transmission of at least visible light therethrough.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the above-described electrothermal heating cooker, as the heating case is heated by the electrothermal heaters, the heating object accommodated in the heating case is heated and cooked. As some examples of such cooker, a bread maker, a rice cooker, a hot plate cooker, etc. can be cited.
According to a bread maker disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 62-5317, as an example of such electrothermal heating cooker as above, this bread maker includes a baking chamber case 30 having an upper opening and accommodating a bread baking pan 32 for heating bread dough, a lid body 40 for closing the upper opening of the baking chamber case 30, a lower heater 27 for heating a lower portion inside a baking chamber 50 formed by the bread baking chamber case 30 and the lid body 40, and an upper heater 42 for heating an upper portion inside the baking chamber 50. With this bread maker disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 62-5317, it is said that as the baking chamber 50 is heated from all sides thereof by the upper heater 42 and the lower heater 27, there is achieved uniform heating of the bread dough placed inside the bread pan 32, so that bread having less baking unevenness can be baked. In the above, the names and the reference numerals of the above components are those employed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 62-5317.
On the other hand, in the case of a bread maker disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-329886 or Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-28444, there is disclosed an arrangement wherein the bread maker is provided with a check window for allowing checking of the inside condition of the bread maker.
More particularly, the bread maker disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-329886 includes a main body 20 having a front opening and accommodating a tray 39 for heating bread dough, a door 40 for closing the front opening of the main body 20, an upper heater 50 a for heating an upper portion of an oven 30 formed by the main body 20 and the door 40, a lower heater 50b for heating a lower portion of the oven 30, and a window glass 42 for allowing checking of the inside condition of the main body 20 from the outside. In the above, the names and the reference numerals of the above components are those employed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-329886.
Further, the bread maker disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-28444 includes a main body 1 having an upper opening and accommodating a bread vessel 6 for heating bread dough, a lid 2 for closing the upper opening of the main body 1, a heater 13 for heating an upper portion inside an inner case 4 formed by the main body 1 and the lid 2, a heater 13 for heating a lower portion inside the inner case 4, and a peep window 14 formed of heat-resistant glass for allowing visual checking of the bread dough placed inside the bread vessel 6 from the outside. In the above, the names and the reference numerals of the above components are those employed in the Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-28444.
As described above, some of the conventional electrothermal heating cookers are provided with a check window for allowing checking of the cooked condition of the heating object inside the casing from the outside. However, since the inside of the casing is sealed and closed by means of a lid body or the like, steam generated from the heating object sometimes adheres to the check window and condensates thereon to cloud this check window. In such case, sometimes visual inspection of the cooked condition of the heating object inside the casing through the check window from the outside is not possible.
On the other hand, as described above, with the conventional electrothermal heating cookers, there is disclosed the arrangement that the cooker is equipped with not only a lower electrothermal heater, but also an upper electrothermal heater. However, the upper electrothermal heater is provided only for the sake of adjustment of baked condition of the upper portion of the heating object, without giving consideration to the disposing relationship relative to the check window. Therefore, even if the upper portion of the heating object is heated by such upper electrothermal heater, the above-described problem of clouding of the check window has remained un-solved.